Will it happen?
So, what do you want to hear from Apple?
Story by Ben Patterson who is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.
Full Story after the Jump...
1. A detailed explanation for the iPhone's reception problems
The iPhone's "death grip" problems (which seem to strike when the iPhone 4 is held near the lower left corner, especially with the hand touching a tiny gap in the iPhone's steel antenna band) have been well documented by Consumer Reports and other reviewers and publications. So far, though, Apple has acknowledged only that "almost any mobile phone" will lose some reception when held "in certain ways." I'm expecting Apple to go into far more detail about how the iPhone 4's external antenna works, along with hard data to either prove or refute the claim that reception degrades when the new iPhone is held the "wrong" way.
2. A spirited defense of the iPhone's external antenna design
Don't expect Steve Jobs or anyone else to throw the iPhone 4's stainless-steel antenna band under the bus. Even if Apple admits to some signal loss when the iPhone is held, uh, incorrectly, I'm sure Jobs and/or his lieutenants will insist that overall, the iPhone 4 boasts better wireless reception than any previous iPhone. They're a proud, stubborn bunch in Cupertino, and they're not going to diss their latest iPhone openly.
3. An admission that the coming software update won't fix the 'death grip'
Apple never said that its promised firmware update for the iPhone 4 (which could arrive as early as Thursday) would improve the iPhone 4's reception, but it sure gave the impression that the update (which will supposedly fix the iPhone's "totally wrong" formula for calculating the number of reception bars to display) would at least make the perception of the "death grip" go away. Bloggers, however, have already demonstrated that they can replicate the death grip even after installing a beta version of iPhone firmware 4.1. Regardless, Apple execs will probably go into more detail about what the new update does and doesn't do.
4. Free Bumpers for everyone
All along, experts and even Apple itself have said that using a case like Apple's $29 Bumper cases would cure the iPhone's "death grip" woes. Many have called for Apple to just hand out Bumpers with every iPhone 4 purchase, and I'd be floored if Jobs & Co. didn't announce plans to do so starting Friday.
5. An extension for iPhone 4 returns and/or support
Here's another easy way for Apple to assuage would-be iPhone customers spooked by the "death grip" drama: extend the window for returns from 30 days to ... I dunno, two months? Three would be generous. And they should emphasize that there won't be any questions or restocking fee. Another option would be to extend the iPhone's limited warranty from a year to, say, 18 months, but I doubt Apple will go that far.
6. One more thing ...
All the items I've ticked off above are important, but as I wrote Wednesday, there's one last thing Apple should do about the "death grip": apologize. Not for a defect on the iPhone after all, gadgets and glitches go together like eggs and bacon but for not owning up to it sooner, for suggesting that customers were the ones with the problem ("just avoid holding it that way"!). The brash confidence that made Apple so endearing in its early days has crossed over into arrogance, and it isn't flattering indeed, in a dozen years of covering the tech industry, I've never seen a company draw this much vitriol, not even Microsoft. Apple needs to take itself down a peg or two (or three), admit its mistakes hey, we're all human (you too, Steve Jobs) and say the magic words: "We're sorry." Go ahead, you can do it.
